10 FACTS!!!
1: South America is the fourth largest continent in the world.
2: South America broke off from the West of the supercontinent Gondwanaland around 135 million years ago
3: The Amazon River Basin has the greatest variety of animals on the continent. These include the capybara, the world’s largest rodent, which grows up to about 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. Trees in the rain forest provide homes for many kinds of monkeys. Other unusual forest dwellers include the armadillo, the giant anteater, and the sloth. The Amazon is also the home of the green anaconda, one of the world’s largest snakes. It may grow to about 30 feet (9 meters) long.
4:South America has a great variety of plants, many of which grow on no other continent. The Amazon River Basin, sometimes referred to as “the green ocean,” contains tens of thousands of plant species.
5:South America has abundant natural resources. These include vast stretches of fertile land; raw materials, such as hardwoods and minerals, used in manufacturing; and plentiful energy resources, such as natural gas and petroleum. However, many of these resources remain undeveloped.
6:South America is part of Latin America, a large cultural region that also includes Central America, Mexico, and islands in the Caribbean Sea. This article discusses South America’s land, climate, animal and plant life, and economy. For discussions of the people, way of life, arts, and history of South America and the rest of Latin America, see Latin America and the articles on each of the independent countries and dependencies in South America.
7:Land regions. The land surface of South America broadly resembles that of North America. Both continents have high, rugged mountain ranges in the west, vast central plains drained by mighty rivers, and older, less rugged mountains in the east. South America has three major land regions: (1) the Andes Mountains, (2) the Central Plains, and (3) the Eastern Highlands.
8:MapAverage January temperatures in South America The hottest weather in South America occurs in Argentina’s Gran Chaco, where the temperature reaches 110 °F (43 °C). Temperatures in the Amazon region generally range from 70 to 90 °F (21 to 32 °C) and rarely reach 100 °F (38 °C). South of the equator, summer lasts from late December to late March, and winter runs from late June to late September. In the far south of Argentina, the temperature generally ranges from 40 °F (4 °C) in July to 60 °F (16 °C) in January, but it has dropped to as low as –27 °F (–33 °C).
9:Brazil is South America’s chief producer of forestry products. All the countries in the Amazon River Basin have forestry industries that produce such hardwoods as greenheart, mahogany, and rosewood. Builders use the extremely dense greenheart, found in the Guiana Highlands, to construct ships and piers. Softwood pine trees grow in southern South America.
10:The mountains of South America have long been a source of mineral wealth. Deposits of gold and silver attracted the Spanish and Portuguese to the area in colonial times. Today, the Amazon River Basin is another significant source of mineral wealth
Wiley, James, and Brian P. Owensby. "South America." World Book Student. World Book, 2013. Web. 8 May 2013.
2: South America broke off from the West of the supercontinent Gondwanaland around 135 million years ago
3: The Amazon River Basin has the greatest variety of animals on the continent. These include the capybara, the world’s largest rodent, which grows up to about 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. Trees in the rain forest provide homes for many kinds of monkeys. Other unusual forest dwellers include the armadillo, the giant anteater, and the sloth. The Amazon is also the home of the green anaconda, one of the world’s largest snakes. It may grow to about 30 feet (9 meters) long.
4:South America has a great variety of plants, many of which grow on no other continent. The Amazon River Basin, sometimes referred to as “the green ocean,” contains tens of thousands of plant species.
5:South America has abundant natural resources. These include vast stretches of fertile land; raw materials, such as hardwoods and minerals, used in manufacturing; and plentiful energy resources, such as natural gas and petroleum. However, many of these resources remain undeveloped.
6:South America is part of Latin America, a large cultural region that also includes Central America, Mexico, and islands in the Caribbean Sea. This article discusses South America’s land, climate, animal and plant life, and economy. For discussions of the people, way of life, arts, and history of South America and the rest of Latin America, see Latin America and the articles on each of the independent countries and dependencies in South America.
7:Land regions. The land surface of South America broadly resembles that of North America. Both continents have high, rugged mountain ranges in the west, vast central plains drained by mighty rivers, and older, less rugged mountains in the east. South America has three major land regions: (1) the Andes Mountains, (2) the Central Plains, and (3) the Eastern Highlands.
8:MapAverage January temperatures in South America The hottest weather in South America occurs in Argentina’s Gran Chaco, where the temperature reaches 110 °F (43 °C). Temperatures in the Amazon region generally range from 70 to 90 °F (21 to 32 °C) and rarely reach 100 °F (38 °C). South of the equator, summer lasts from late December to late March, and winter runs from late June to late September. In the far south of Argentina, the temperature generally ranges from 40 °F (4 °C) in July to 60 °F (16 °C) in January, but it has dropped to as low as –27 °F (–33 °C).
9:Brazil is South America’s chief producer of forestry products. All the countries in the Amazon River Basin have forestry industries that produce such hardwoods as greenheart, mahogany, and rosewood. Builders use the extremely dense greenheart, found in the Guiana Highlands, to construct ships and piers. Softwood pine trees grow in southern South America.
10:The mountains of South America have long been a source of mineral wealth. Deposits of gold and silver attracted the Spanish and Portuguese to the area in colonial times. Today, the Amazon River Basin is another significant source of mineral wealth
Wiley, James, and Brian P. Owensby. "South America." World Book Student. World Book, 2013. Web. 8 May 2013.